This invention relates to novel alicyclic epoxy-functional siloxanes. The invention also relates to a method for the preparation of these epoxy-functional siloxanes.
Graft copolymers carrying pendant epoxy groups can be prepared by the copolymerization of a radical-polymerizing monomer with a monomer that bears both an epoxy group and a radical-polymerizing functional group. However, since the epoxy group in the prior-art epoxy-functional graft copolymers is the glycidoxy group, these copolymers suffer from the problem of a low ring-opening and crosslinking reactivity under the action of electrophilic reagents such as, for example, acids. This has led to a search for graft copolymers that would contain the highly reactive alicyclic epoxy group.
Alicyclic epoxy-functional siloxanes are known, for example, in the form of the compound ##STR1## which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-20374 (20,374/1991). However, siloxanes bearing both alicyclic epoxy groups and radical-polymerizing functional groups, which would be able to function as a precursor for epoxy-functional graft copolymers, are heretofore unknown.